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Ashton's is most likely genetics but I think it could be a number of reasons why autism is on the rise. Too many questions that need answers..too many inconsistency.. Just not sure what all I believe. All I know is that I will do whatever it takes to make sure Ashotn is raised in a loving, happy home and that we are doing everything we can to give him the best life and future possible.

My daughter had some vaccine reactions but I believe she had genetic predisposition to it and the vaccines exasterbated the issue. That maybe if I had done a delayed vaccine schedule or no vaccines at all, she might still have autism but alot higher functioning. Because I'm starting to believe my husband has aspergers and I always thought his dad did.

For my son I don't think there's just one factor. It's a combination of several things and I don't even have proof of that. So I just accept him. I'm real anxious now since I'm 6mo pregnant with another boy. But hey if he is to have autism too then we will cross that bridge when we get there. The only thing I know for a fact is I love my kids. I will raise them both with all my love and make sure they have a wonderful life

I have found it very interesting to read a lot of books on various treatment methods of autism. And the common threads are as follows:

- some kids are predisposed to autism. How each modality feels this happens varies from genetic predispositions to energetic patterns of weakness (homeopathy and Heilkunst homeopathy).

- various traumas or environmental insults impact the child at certain points (which can be during gestation or long afterwards) which tip the scales into a downward spiral of illness which results in the symptoms we collectively identify as autism.

- that the main problem with autism is that we have given a collection of behavioral and mental symptoms a name and allowed that to stand as a diagnosis. As opposed to identifying a collection of symptoms and searching for the underlying medical issues that are actually causing those symptoms.

The last point really aggravates me. If you have cancer or any other disease there are blood tests, scans, w/e medical procedure that can identify WHAT is wrong with you. There may or may not be a cure or even a good treatment option, but you know, for sure, what it is that's going wrong even if the "why?" isn't quite answered - you have lung cancer but never smoked? Well I'd be asking a whole lot of WHY??? but there may not be a good answer.

And yet here we sit in 2013 with an epidemic of autism and our health authorities have "no idea" what's causing it. And that is quite simply because they are NOT LOOKING. You all know this because when your child was diangosed your child was not taken for any medical testing. Sure your kid was taken for psychological testing, behavioral testing, speech/language testing, the lits goes on and on but other than a few genetic tests which were likely recommended AFTER the diagnosis of autism was handed down, not a single medical test or procedure is used to diagnose autism. And that is quite simply unacceptible.

Our kids are not constipated b/c they have a mental illness. Our kids are not constantly feeling ill and in pain and reacting to it by headbanging, screaming, zoning out, and regressing because of a MENTAL illness. It is not all in their heads and it certainly isn't all in ours either. They don't have yeast, viral, and bacterial infections that are chronic because of a MENTAL illness. They are sick. And that illness, that PHYSICAL illness is impacting their brains and causing what can wind up as irreparable brain damage.

Our medical establishment is just beginning to talk about the systemic inflammation, improper immune responses, demyelinization, and other markers of the physical illness that ravages our kids' brains and results in autistic behaviors and yet they still manage to have no treatment outline for pediatricians to carry out. Even the most basic care has to be spelled out when it comes to autism - the American Academy of Pediatrics had to specifically instruct pediatricians to begin treating the co-morbid gut conditions that often accompany autism. THEY HAD TO TELL YOUR CHILD'S DOCTOR TO ACTUALLY TREAT THEIR PHYSICAL AILMENT. And why was your child's gut issue being ignored? Why because he/she has autism of course, and those kinds of issues just go along with it... and since there's no known treatment for autism then there's no point in trying to treat the physical conditions that generally go along with it right? RIGHT? Nice catch 22.

So. Where does that leave us, the parents of beautiful, funny, loving, wonderful, incredibly challenged and challenging kids with autism? Well it can leave us feeling like we are without hope. It can leave us trying to manage physical issues with mental/behavioral treatments and coping strategies. And, if we're lucky, it can leave us open to looking outside the box. Willing to listen to other parents about what has worked for their kids. Willing to read book after book and try to piece together the puzzle pieces of the physical ailments of autism that fit OUR child.

If you find yourself in that place then I'd highly recommend several books and websites which have really inspired and helped me and my family as we continue to look for and find things that help our kids.

I really don't know. It could be he was born a month early, I was 37 had gestational diabetes. He had low oxygen at one point I had to be put on oxygen. He had low sugar for the first 24 hours. I believe he was born this way. His dad has dyslexia and I heard that there is a link there. Who knows lol.

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